This application claims priority of Taiwanese application no. 102201827, filed on Jan. 28, 2013.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a container, more particularly to a container including a depressible head assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A skincare solution is generally received in a container with a depressible head so as to conveniently draw the skincare solution by depressing the depressible head. However, the conventional container with the depressible head is unable to quantitatively draw the skincare solution. When a user intends to have access to the skincare solution received in the conventional container with the depressible head, he or she has to carefully control the extent of depression of the depressible head so as to obtain the desired amount of the skincare solution. However, it is quite often to draw an excessive or insufficient amount. Thus, there is still a need for further improvement on quantitatively controlling the amount to be drawn of the content received in a container with a depressible head.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a container that can alleviate the aforesaid drawback of the prior art.
Accordingly, the container of the present invention includes:
a container body;
a locking connector threadedly disposed on the container body, the locking connector including
a pump unit extending through and being mounted in the dosage guide ring, the pump unit extending downwardly into the container body and being drivenable to move upwardly and downwardly in the top-bottom direction so as to draw a liquid received in the container body; and
a depressible head assembly including a depressible head that is disposed between the pump unit and the dosage guide ring for driving the pump unit to move upwardly and downwardly in the top-bottom direction, and a biasing member that abuts against the depressible head upwardly with respect to the locking connector, the depressible head being formed with a dispensing port for dispensing the liquid drawn by the pump unit and having an alignment rib portion that is movable in the top-bottom direction and that is insertable into one of the dosage guide grooves, the depressible head being drivenable to rotate with respect to the locking connector between a locked position, where the alignment rib portion abuts against the dosage guide ring and is thereby limited from being pressed downwardly to an extent as to drive the pump unit, and a depressible position, where the alignment rib portion is aligned with one of the dosage guide grooves and is depressible downwardly to drive the pump unit.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Referring to
The locking connector 3 includes a locking ring 31 that is threadedly disposed on a top portion of the container body 2, a dosage guide ring 32 that protrudes outwardly of the locking ring 31, an outer surrounding ring 33 that extends in a top-bottom direction from an outer peripheral edge of the locking ring 31, three dosage guide units 34 that are angularly spaced-apart and axially indented from a top end of the dosage guide ring 32, and three spaced-apart blocking ribs 35 that protrude from the dosage guide ring 32 and that extend in the top-bottom direction. Each of the blocking ribs 35 which is disposed between two corresponding adjacent ones of the dosage guide units 34. The locking ring 31, the dosage guide ring 32 and the outer surrounding ring 33 cooperate to define a mounting space 30 having a top opening.
The dosage guide ring 32 has a bottom side formed with an annular engaging groove 321 and has an abutting surface 322 that radially and inwardly extends toward the pumping unit 5. Each dosage guide unit 34 has three dosage guide grooves 341 that are downwardly and separately indented from the top end of the dosage guide ring 32 to different depths in the top-bottom direction and a limiting groove 342 that is indented from the top end of the dosage guide ring 32. Each of the dosage guide grooves 341 and the limiting grooves 342 has a cross section that is perpendicular to the top-bottom direction and that is outwardly and radially diverged. The limiting grooves 342 are smaller in depth than the dosage guide grooves 341.
The depressible head assembly 4 includes a depressible head 41 that is disposed on the locking connector 3 and movable in the top-bottom direction so as to drive the pump unit 5 to move in the top-bottom direction, and a biasing member 42, such as a spring, that is disposed between and abuts against the abutting surface 322 of the dosage guide ring 32 of the locking connector 3 and the depressible head 41 in the top-bottom direction. The depressible head 41 is made of an elastic plastic material and includes a depressible head body 411 that has a bottom opening and that is depressible downwardly to move into the mounting space 30, an inner surrounding ring 413 that protrudes downwardly from an inner surface of the depressible head body 411 to be sleeved on the dosage guide ring 32, an engaging ring 414 that protrudes downwardly from the inner surface of the depressible head body 41 and that is movably sleeved on the pumping unit 5, and three alignment rib portions 415 that protrude from an inner peripheral surface of the inner surrounding ring 413, that extend in the top-bottom direction and that are respectively engaged with the dosage guide units 34. The depressible head 41 is formed with a dispensing port 412 for dispensing the liquid drawn by the pumping unit 5.
Referring to
The depressible head 41 is drivenable to rotate with respect to the locking connector 3 between a locked position, where the alignment rib portions 415 may abut against the dosage guide ring 32 by being respectively aligned with the limiting grooves 342 of the dosage guide units 34 so as to abut against the bottom of the limiting grooves 342 and so as to limit the depressible head 41 from being depressed downwardly, and a depressible position, where the alignment rib portions 415 are respectively aligned with the dosage guide grooves 341 of the same depth so that the depressible head 41 is depressible downwardly and so that the alignment rib portions 415 are linked to move to the bottom of the dosage guide grooves 341 to drive the pump unit 5.
Referring to
The tubular member 51 includes: a large diameter portion 511 that extends upwardly through the dosage guide ring 32 and that is securely mounted in the annular engaging groove 321 of the dosage guide ring 32; a small diameter portion 512 that extends downwardly from an inner peripheral edge of the large diameter portion 511; a stopping ring 513 that extends radially and inwardly from an inner surface of the small diameter portion 512; and four resilient arm portions 514 that are spaced apart from one another, that inclinedly extend inwardly and upwardly from the inner surface of the small diameter portion 512, and that are disposed above the stopping ring 513. The check member 53 is depressible downwardly and resiliently by the resilient arm portions 514 to detachedly abut against an inner peripheral edge of the stopping ring 513 so as to close the small diameter portion 512. The resilient arm portions 514 are depressible downwardly to abut against the check member 53.
The piston tube 54 includes a rotatably engaging portion 541 extending upwardly into the engaging ring 414, an inserting portion 542 extending from a bottom of the rotatably engaging portion 541 into the piston ring 55 for being mounted thereon, and an annular engaging portion 543 extending radially and inwardly from a bottom of the rotatably engaging portion 541.
The piston ring 55 includes an outer annular portion 551 that is movable in the top-bottom direction and that air-tightly abuts against the large diameter portion 511 of the tubular member 51, and an inner annular portion 552 that is radially spaced-apart from and disposed inside of the outer annular portion 551 and that is abuttingly and air-tightly sleeved on the inserting portion 542 of the piston tube 54 and the valve member 56. The valve member 56 includes an abutting section 561 that is truncated cone-shaped and that is moveable upwardly to detachedly abut against a bottom side of the inner annular portion 552 of the piston ring 55 for sealing an opening formed on the bottom side of the inner annular portion 552 of the piston ring 55, and an inserting section 562 that is plate-shaped and that extends upwardly from the abutting section 561 and that is securely inserted into the inserting portion 542 and engaged with the annular engaging portion 543 of the piston tube 54.
When the container of this invention is in use, if it is desired to limit the depressible head 41 from being depressed, the depressible head 41 is to be rotated to the locked position so that the alignment rib portions 415 are respectively aligned with the limiting grooves 342 of the dosage guide units 34.
Referring to
When the pump unit 5 is driven by the depression of the depressible head 41, first the abutting section 561 of the valve member 56 is linked by the movement of the piston tube 54 to be disengaged from the piston ring 55, such that the piston tube 54 makes spatial communication with the space 50 through the piston ring 55. Next, the piston tube 54 continues to depress the piston ring 55 so that the piston ring 55 and the valve member 56 move downward together to compress the space 50 as to force the liquid drawn into the space 50 upwardly into the piston tube 54 for subsequent flowing out through the dispensing port 412 of the depressible head 41. At this time, the valve member 56 is at a first position. Through the design of aligning the alignment rib portions 415 with the dosage guide grooves 341 of the dosage guide units 34, the traveling distance of the depressible head 41 in response to a depression is adjustable and controllable, the traveling distances for the piston ring 55 and the valve member 56 are thereby adjustable and controllable to limit the compression extent of the space 50, which in turn controls the amount of the liquid to be dispensed. In the meantime, the spring 42 accumulates a restorative force as the result of compression of the depressible head 41.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the locking connector 3 includes three dosage guide units 34, and the depressible head 41 correspondingly includes three alignment rib portions 415. However, in actual practice, the arrangement of one dosage guide unit 34 and one alignment rib portion 415 is applicable, and the number of dosage guide grooves 341 included in each of the dosage guide units 34 is also not limited to three. Moreover, the arrangement of the limiting groove 342 is also not necessary and the length of the alignment rib portions 415 can be reduced so that the alignment rib portions 415 are disposed above the dosage guide ring 32. In such case, when the depressible head 41 is rotated to be in the locked position, the alignment rib portions 415 abut against the top surface of the dosage guide ring 32 and the depressible head 41 is limited from moving downwardly. On the other hand, when the depressible head 41 is rotated to be in the depressible position, the alignment rib portions 415 are drivenable by the depressible head 41 to be respectively aligned with the dosage guide grooves 341.
Moreover, it is noted that, in this embodiment, the structural design for withdrawing the liquid in multistage manner can be incorporated with various depressible-type pump units 5 and hence is not limited to what is disclosed herein.
In this embodiment, the depressible head 41 is designed to directly dispense the liquid in the liquid form, and however, in practice, the depressible head 41 may be designed to dispense the liquid in spray or foam form. As shown in
In sum, through the structural design of the combination of the locking connector 3 with the dosage guide units 34, each of which includes the limiting groove 342 and the dosage guide grooves 341 of different depths, and the alignment rib portions 415 of the depressible head assembly 4, this invention provides a container that is capable of dispensing liquid in a multistage manner and that is convenient for use.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140209636 A1 | Jul 2014 | US |